Review: Del Taco - Regular Taco

Del Taco's Regular Taco is similar to Taco Bell's Crunchy Taco except not as liberally seasoned, and it's 30 cents cheaper! The Regular Taco features a hard taco shell with seasoned ground beef, shredded lettuce, and grated Cheddar cheese inside. It's only 59 cents a taco and on Tuesday nights (i.e. Taco Tuesdays), you can get three Regular Tacos for $1.09 (it used to be only 99 cents but, you know, inflation and all).

Review: Baskin-Robbins - Cappuccino Blast

To me, Baskin-Robbins' Cappuccino Blast is the original ice-blended coffee drink, dating back to summers spent at my cousin's in Oregon. I would walk over to the local Baskin-Robbins and enjoy one many-a-time on a hot day. Currently (at least in the Los Angeles area), Baskin-Robbins is running a summer promotion where you can get a "small" Cappuccino Blast for $2.99 (16 oz), a "medium" for $3.99 (24 oz), or a "large" for $4.99 (32 oz!).

Review: Domino's Thin Crust Pizza

Domino's Thin Crust Pizza is very thin. I don't know why but they choose to cut it in a grid rather than the typical relatively uniform pizza slices. It's one of several crust choices at Domino's and probably my favorite out of them. The Domino's in my area was running a carryout promotion where a large 2-topping pizza was only $5.99.

They're still running almost the same promotion but pared down the toppings to one in somewhat ghetto fashion; the Domino's I've driven past just taped over the "2" with a written "1."

The Asia Trip: Skewers Galore! Tempura and Yakitori Paradise

While I was in Yokohama, I stepped into a fairly sizable (for Japan anyway) supermarket and saw a whole display of tempura (breaded and deep-fried food) and yakitori (grilled chicken parts skewers). If I hadn't felt so sick from eating too much MSG-laced ramen, I would have eaten up a storm of skewered foods.

Some Interesting McDonald's Sales Numbers from 2010

Apparently, McDonald's McCafe sales aren't doing so hot according to an article from Crain's Chicago Business (which is no longer available as of 12/9/2023).

Review: Sonic - Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster

Sonic's Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster features hickory BBQ sauce, a hamburger patty, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, an onion ring, onions, and cheese on two slices of Texas toast. This kitchen sink sandwich will run you about $3.99 for the sandwich or $6.29 for a medium combo.

Review: Jack In The Box - Really Big Chicken Sandwich

Jack in the Box's Really Big Chicken Sandwich takes their value-priced Chicken Sandwich as a base, double ups on the chicken patties, and adds two slices of cheese, a slice of tomato, and two strips of bacon. It's available in a value-priced combo with curly fries and a small drink for $3.99.

Sunday Funny: McDonald's - "Fishing"

This is definitely not an American commercial since I'm pretty sure "Every time a good time" has never been used as a McDonald's tag here. It's probably German or Austrian; they've both used the tag at one point. Not the best ad for selling fast food, but it's entertaining.

Review: Capriotti's - The Bobbie Sandwich

Capriotti's best known sandwich is known simply as "the Bobbie." I don't pretend to know why it's called the Bobbie, but basically, it's a Thanksgiving leftovers turkey sandwich. The sub sandwich features made-in-house shredded turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mayo. Pricing starts at $6.50 for a 9-inch "small" and up to $12.00 for a 20-inch "large."

Frozen Friday: Stouffer's - Roast Turkey Breast

Another frozen dinner staple, the turkey dinner is one of my favorites. Mostly because it reminds me of Thanksgiving when I used to eat copious amount of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy.

Stouffer's does a fairly quality (relatively speaking) rendition of the good ole turkey and gravy, labeling it the Roast Turkey Breast. It's usually priced over $4 in my neighborhood but often goes on sale for around $2.

News: Carl's Jr. - New Hawaiian Grilled Chicken Salad

Continuing their Hawaiian theme this summer, Carl's Jr recently introduced their new Hawaiian Grilled Chicken Salad. The Hawaiian Grilled Chicken salad features grilled chicken, pineapple slices, cucumber and red onions on a bed of spring salad mix. It's served topped with wonton strips and Asian dressing and retails for $4.99.

The Carl's Jr website has a printable coupon for a free small diet Coke with the purchase of the Hawaiian Grilled Chicken Salad here.

The salad, without dressing, weighs in (no, not literally) at a slim and trim 260 calories despite a hefty 428g of food.

More nutritional info after the jump.

Review: Sonic - Tots

Potato Tots remind me of elementary school when they were often served as a side for lunch. Now that I think about it, school cafeteria food is like eating fast food everyday, no?

Anyway, Sonic is the only fast food restaurant that I've been to that serves Tots as a normal side and not as a breakfast item. Tots are available in small, medium, and large sizes for the same price as fries: $1.00, $1.59, and $2.19 respectively. I bought a large to share.

The Asia Trip: Japan - Taiyaki

Taiyaki (literally meaning "baked sea bream") is a Japanese dessert baked in the shape of a fish with various fillings inside, usually sweet red bean paste. The fish-shaped cake is made of a waffle- or pancake-like batter and cooked somewhat in waffle fashion pressed between two metal molds.

Review: Jack in the Box - Self-Service Kiosk

A nifty device at some Jack in the Box locations, is the Self-Service Kiosk which allows you to order and pay for your order via touchscreen. To encourage its use (and encourage buying in general), there's often a promotional free value item (I've seen free tacos and churros so far) with the purchase of a combo via the machine.

Review: In-N-Out - Secret Menu - Animal Style

Probably the most popular burger variation at In-N-Out is the vaunted "Animal Style" which is a burger of your choice with hand-leafed lettuce, tomatoes slices, a beef patty (or two or three) with mustard seared in during grilling, pickles, extra spread (thousand island), and grilled onions. Pictured above is a In-N-Out Hamburger Animal Style which comes in at a reasonable $1.75.

Sunday Funny: McDonald's Greece - "McShrimp"

Okay, this one's not really funny and I have no idea what they're saying, but look! It's a McShrimp! The patty is lots of shrimp stuck together!

Review: Cinnabon - Cupcakes

As you may know, Cinnabon added cupcakes to their ovens not too long ago. I was able to try the 24-Carrot Cake and Chocolate Passion cupcakes courtesy of the Sister-in-law, who found out you can buy them at the end of the day for only $1 each. They are normally $2.50 each.

Frozen Friday: Stouffer's - Meatloaf Dinner

Stouffer's Meatloaf Dinner is a full pound of food, enough to feed two light eaters really, and contains two ketchup-glazed meatloaves in gravy with a side of whipped mashed potatoes. Despite being frozen food, it contains no artificial flavors or preservatives according to the box. It's usually priced at $3.99 at my local supermarket but I usually don't get it unless it's on sale for less than $2.

News: KFC - Free Doublicious to Two-Timing Employees

Looks like KFC is working the grindstone trying to build up buzz for the new Doublicious sandwich. In an interesting promotion, they are offering a free Doublicious sandwich to the first ten competitor employees who visit their local KFC on Tuesday, July 20, 2010, wearing their work uniforms of course.

Of course, if said employees happen to lose their jobs, they can alway apply for Sandwich Amnesty (i.e. a job at KFC).

Review: Domino's - Cinna Stix

Domino's Cinna Stix are basically cut strips of baked pizza dough dusted with cinnamon and sugar. They're served with sugary sweet icing for dipping in case you want even more sugar. The price for a serving, which is roughly half of a small pizza and is cut into eight strips is $3.99.

The Asia Trip: Vending Machines in Japan

Let me start out by saying that drink vending machines are everywhere in Japan. I was told that even in the middle of nowhere, on a scenic hill, you'd still be able to find a vending machine or two. It's less a vending machine on every corner, and more like a vending machine on every corner, street, store, train station... well, you get the idea.

News: Wendy's - New Garden Sensation Salads

It's official, this summer Wendy's has replaced their Mandarin Chicken, Southwest Taco, Chicken BLT, and Chicken Caesar salads with an updated line up of Baja Salad, BLT Cobb Salad, Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, and Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad. The retail price on the new premium salads is $5.99.

Besides your choice of dressing, here's what's in each salad:

-Baja Salad - Spring Mix, Pico de Gallo, Wendy’s Chili, Guacamole, Cheddar & Pepper Jack Cheese Blend, and Seasoned Tortilla Strips.
-BLT Cobb Salad - Spring Mix, Tomatoes, Chopped Eggs, Blue Cheese Crumbles, Applewood Smoked Bacon, and your choice of chicken.
-Apple Pecan Chicken Salad - Spring Mix, Apple Chunks, Blue Cheese Crumbles, Dried Cranberries, and your choice of chicken.
-Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad - Romaine Lettuce, Asiago Cheese, Grape Tomatoes, and your choice of chicken.

The "Spring Mix" is a blend of  baby lettuces (red & green Romaine, red & green oak, red & green leaf, lolla Rosa, tango), Spinach, Mizuna Arugula, Tatsoi, Red Chard, and Green Chard.

Update 9/16/2010: Wendy's is selling a "Pick 2" meal for $4.99, where you can choose a half-portion salad plus your choice of a small chili, a small drink, a small Frosty, a Dasani bottled water, a chicken wrap, a sour cream and chive baked potato or a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger.

Nutritional info available after the jump.

Review: McDonald's - Real Fruit Smoothies

Real Fruit Smoothies are the latest McCafe offering in McDonald's edible repertoire. They are available in two flavors: Strawberry Banana and Wild Berry.

Both feature a fruit blend of mostly fruit puree, water, and sugar (much like the Frappes feature a coffee base), lowfat yogurt, and ice. McDonald's new Smoothies are available in small (12 ounces), medium (16 ounces), and large (22 ounces) sizes and, are priced the same as Frappes, at $2.29, $2.79, and $3.29 respectively.

Brand Eating Sonic Gift Cards Giveaway Winners!

I have pulled the numbers out of my virtual "hat", courtesy of Random.org, and the winners of Brand Eating's first ever prize drawing are... drum roll please!

The grand prize of four (4) tickets to a local MLB/AAA baseball game (transportation not included) and a $25 MySonic Gift Card goes to Onelcoolj!

As for the two second prizes of a $25 MySonic Gift Cards, the lucky winners are Paul and Thegrants!

Congrats to all the winners and thank you everyone for participating. I'll be emailing the winners shortly for their mailing info.

News: Subway - Buffalo Chicken Sub Back for Good

Looks like Subway's Buffalo Chicken Sub is back for good as a permanent part of their regular menu. The Buffalo Chicken Sub features ranch dressing over glazed Buffalo chicken and, of course your choice of bread, veggies, and condiments.

Nutritional info available after the jump.

Sunday Funny: KFC South Africa - "Milkshake"

"That boy took my milkshake!" Haha, you just have to watch this one.

News: Panda Express - Free Thai Cashew Chicken on 7/14

Thai Cashew Chicken Breast is back at Panda Express and they're promoting it with a coupon-based giveaway on July, 14th.

Panda Express's Thai Cashew Chicken Breast (is it just me, or does the naming seem a bit awkward?) features cashew and cilantro wok-tossed with white meat chicken breast and veggies.

When: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Where: At particpating Panda Express locations.
Why: Free single entree serving of Thai Cashew Chicken Breast with coupon (click here for coupon).

Nutritional info available after the jump.

Review: Seattle's Best Iced Vanilla Latte Can

I got a couple of Seattle's Best coffee cans from my cousin, who bought a bunch of them on the cheap with a combination of sales and coupons. I believe they normally cost around $1 for a 9.5-ounce can.

Seattle's Best Iced Vanilla Latte has a fairly strong vanilla taste finished with milky coffee flavor.

Frozen Friday: Marie Callender's - Pot Roast

Marie Callender's is a restaurant chain probably best known for their pies but I'm probably most familiar with their line of frozen meals made by super giant food manufacturer ConAgraFoods. Actually, I don't believe I've ever eaten at a Marie Callender's, so their frozen food is actually all I know them by. Normally the dinners are around $3.99 at supermarkets around here, but they often go on sale for two for $4 or inexplicably $1.88 each.

Review: Popeyes - Spicy Chicken

Popeyes has had a nice little deal going on in my neck of the woods for a while now, where you can get a leg and a thigh for just 99 cents on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It used to be only on Tuesdays, but I guess with the economy in the crapper and people looking to stretch a buck, they expanded the deal to Thursdays as well.  I bought 10 leg and thigh pieces of Popeyes Spicy Chicken for about $5.

News: Peet's $2 Medium Freddo Fridays in July

Peet's Coffee and Tea is offering a summer promo for $2 Medium (16-ounces) Freddos during every Friday in July. Freddos are Peet's version of ice-blended coffee and tea drinks; basically, it's Peet's analogue to Starbucks' Frappuccino. Like Frappuccinos, Freddos are also customizable with your choice of milk, decaf, additional espresso shots, syrups, etc.

They normally retail around $4, so it's a pretty good deal if you like ice-blended coffee and tea drinks.

At participating Peet's locations only. Excludes airports, supermarket, BART, and other licensed locations.

Peet's Store Locations

The Asia Trip: Random Ramen at Shinjuku Station

Life in metropolitan Japan is largely centered around train stations which, I was told, are privately owned by the same companies that build department stores on and in them. There are a great deal of little shops and restaurants in most busy train stations. While passing through Shinjuku station, we stopped and ate at this random ramen-ya (ramen restaurant).

Review: KFC - Grilled Doublicious Sandwich

Upon inspection, KFC's Grilled Doublicious sandwich is the healthier of the two new Doublicious sandwiches; it contains a grilled chicken breast instead of deep-fried Original Recipe and forgos bacon. Instead, the Grilled Doublicious replaces bacon with a smattering of shredded lettuce and the Colonel's Sauce with honey mustard BBQ sauce. The super soft, sweet Hawaiian bun and mild slice of Monterey Jack remain the same.

Review: Sonic - Footlong Quarter Pound Coney

The first thing I thought when the carhop at Sonic brought me my Footlong Quarter Pound Coney was "holy crap! That's a long hot dog!" I didn't know they made hot dog buns that big.

Fortunately, it's served in a tray and you can lift it up and bend it to eat it without trying to balance it in your hands. It's currently at a promotional price of $2.99 which is pretty good considering you can go halves on it and still be satiated.

Brand Eating Giveaway: Sonic Gift Cards!

Happy 4th of July! In celebration of fireworks, hot dogs, and baseball, Brand Eating is having its very first giveaway drawing ever, courtesy of the kind folks at Sonic Drive-In. The prizes are:

- One Grand Prize: four (4) tickets to a local MLB/AAA baseball game (transportation not included) and a $25 MySonic Gift Card

- Two Second Prizes: A $25 MySonic Gift Card for two readers to visit their local Sonic Drive-In

To enter: simply comment on this post with your favorite hot dog topping(s) to enjoy at the ballpark. Please be sure to include a valid email address in the proper field when you post as that is how I will be contacting the winners for where to send the prizes. I will pick the winners via the virtual hat i.e. a random number generator. Only one entry per person please.

The giveaway will close on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time. I will announce the results shortly thereafter. Winners will have three days to respond to my email, after which time I will pick another winner.

I think that covers everything. Good luck and Happy 4th! Oh! And I go for chili and cheese with onions or just plain with no toppings. Haha, it's all or nothing for me!

Drawing is now closed to new entries. Look for the results in a post soon! Good luck to all who entered!

Sunday Funny: Burger King - Tendercrisp Mayo Commercial

A couple years back, Burger King had an office worker theme to their commercials that were fairly entertaining. This particular one is both funny and unexpected:

Review: KFC - Doublicious Sandwich

KFC's follow up to the infamous Double Down is the curiously named Doublicious sandwich. The Doublicious is basically a Double Down, minus Original Recipe breast filet, sandwiched in between a sweet Hawaiian bread bun.

 It is available in a promotional combo with an individual order of Potato Wedges and a medium drink for $5. You can also buy it a la carte for $4.29 in my area. There's also a grilled variant (that replaces bacon with lettuce?!) that I'll take on later.

Review: Chipotle - Secret Menu - Chicken Nachos

An off-the-menu item at Chipotle, Nachos are available with your choice of meat, beans, salsa, etc. I tried the Chicken Nachos and found that it is charged as a Burrito Bowl plus an order of chips which came out to 5.70 for the Burrito Bowl and 90 cents for the chips for a total of $6.60.

News: Sonic Kicks Off National Hot Dog Month with Footlong Quarter Pound Coney

July is National Hot Dog Month and Sonic is celebrating with the menu addition of the Footlong Quarter Pound Coney for $2.99.

The Footlong Quarter Pound Coney features a footlong quarter pound hot dog (obviously!) made from a blend of beef and pork topped with warm chili and melted cheese.  If the picture is any indication, it looks quite big.

Nutritional information available after the jump.

News: Chick-fil-A Celebrates Cow Appreciation Day (Free Food!) - July 9, 2010

It's that time of the year again: Cow Appreciation Day! Where the cows behind Chick-fil-A celebrate your cow-friendly choice to eat chicken by giving out free food to their fellow cows or humans in cow's clothing.

On Friday, July 9, 2010, if you're particularly industrious, or happen to have a cow costume around from Halloween or something, dress fully as a cow to receive a free meal (entrée of your choice, side, and drink) at any Chick-fil-A location.

If that's too much work, you can sport some piece of cow attire, such as a spotted hat or scarf, and still get an entrée of your choice.

For more details as well as help with your costume, visit the Cow Appreciation Day website.

News: Arby's - Free Jr. Deluxe with Drink Purchase on July 5th

Arby's is previewing their latest Value Menu addition, the Jr. Deluxe, on July 5th, 2010 by offering a free Jr. Deluxe with the purchase of any drink (excluding coffee and value-sized drinks).

The Jr. Deluxe is basically a Jr. Roast Beef sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo.  Pricing hasn't been announced but it's a safe bet that it'll be priced at $1.

The Jr. Deluxe will be officially available a week after the promotion.

Review: The Coffee Bean - Ultimate Dark Chocolate Ice Blended

The Coffee Bean's Ultimate Dark Chocolate Ice Blended is a dark chocolate powder blended with coffee extract, ice, milk, and chocolate-covered espresso beans.

A regular 16-ounce is $3.95.